S01.E01: Generic Asian Man

[AnimeMania]

A Chinatown waiter finds himself in a mystery. 

Premiere Date: Tuesday, November 19, 2024     Hulu     

[arc]

Lot of interesting stuff going on here. I really liked all the metafiction of it all. The set design -- that street where the restaurant is just looks 100% like a Hollywood set, not a real street -- really adds a lot. I'm also thrown by the various shots of LA Metro buses (they're bright orange and very obvious) all while insisting this city isn't LA, but I'm sure there's a reason for it.

Some of the dialogue felt too laden with secondary meanings to feel grounded and genuine.

The 90s era hip hop song choices for the soundtrack are solid picks so far. No deep cuts yet, but these are serious classics.

As for the characters, I'm in on Willis, waiting to see what'll happen for Lana, and I love Fatty. Not sure why Audrey is in this story and esp why she seems to like Willis, but then again Fatty even lampshaded it: "Audrey Chan is into you... for some reason."

[shapeshifter]

It wasn't until after I watched this first episode that I realized the show is based upon a book by an author whose first novel I f'loved: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. I followed author Charles Wu on naiscent Twitter for years, but he didn't write any more novels until after I lost track of him.
But now here I am watching the TV show of his second novel, which is kind of trippy like the plot of his first novel.

Anyway, author Yu is producing the show and wrote for Westworld, which I never watched. Freddy is played by Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show, who I agree is good here. Lana Lee (sounds like a spoofy name for Superman's girlfriend) is played by Chloe Bennet, who was still a teen when she started playing Skye in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; she is much more polished on this show. Taika Waititi directed this pilot episode.

Wikipedia says "Golden Palace Restaurant setting[3] is inspired by the real-life Doyers Street and the real-life Doyers Street tunnels[5] in Manhattan’s Chinatown" which is where my middle daughter lives. Maybe I can get her to check it out.

I'm starting episode 2 now. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it.

The relationship between Freddy and Fatty is the best part; I hope it's real and not a figment of someone's imagination.